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Photo: John Fornander / Unsplash · Spain

Across economies · 20

Spain has 480,000 more people in work; Germany 215,000 fewer

German manufacturers employ 176,000 fewer people than a year ago; Spanish manufacturers 62,000 more.

In twelve months, Spain’s count of people in work grew by almost half a million while Germany’s shrank by more than two hundred thousand. Eurostat’s national accounts show which industries moved in each country, and which member states went which way. Here is the split, what the count does and does not measure, and what it changes if you are hiring or looking for work in Spain or Germany.

By The Market Desk · · 9 min read · Share

+480,000more people in work in Spain in the second quarter of 2026 than a year earlier, a rise of 2.1%
-215,000fewer in Germany over the same year, a fall of 0.5%, to 45.7 million
-176,000fewer people employed by German manufacturers than a year earlier, 2.4% down

Spain has 12.3% more people in work than at the end of 2019, Germany 0.7%

Ireland118.9
Cyprus114.1
Luxembourg113.1
Spain112.3
Croatia111.7
Denmark108.6
Netherlands108.0
Italy107.3
Lithuania107.3
Slovenia105.1
Belgium104.7
Sweden104.7
Bulgaria104.5
Hungary103.7
Austria103.5
Estonia103.5
Finland102.2
Germany100.7
Slovakia99.4
Latvia97.6
Romania95.0
People in work in the second quarter of 2026 for every 100 at the end of 2019, total employment, domestic concept, seasonally and calendar adjusted, the 21 member states that publish that series. Eurostat namq_10_pe, read 27 September 2026.

Two countries, opposite years

Between the second quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, the number of people in work in Spain rose by 480,000, to 23.1 million, a rise of 2.1%. In Germany it fell by 215,000, to 45.7 million, a fall of 0.5%. Italy added 392,000, a rise of 1.5%. The European Union as a whole added 1,021,000, a rise of 0.5%.

Twenty-one member states publish the series adjusted for both the season and the calendar. In 17 of the 21 the number of people in work rose over the year; in four it fell: Germany, Romania, Finland and Austria. Romania lost 99,000, Finland 21,000 and Austria 8,000.

Against the end of 2019, the last quarter before the pandemic, the gap is wider still. Spain has 12.3% more people in work than then, Italy 7.3%, and Germany 0.7%. Three member states are below their level of the end of 2019: Slovakia, Latvia and Romania.

Provenance: Source
People in work, total employment on the domestic concept, thousands of persons, seasonally and calendar adjusted, second quarter of 2025 and of 2026. The change and its percentage are arithmetic on the two published levels; the last column is the second quarter of 2026 for every 100 people in work at the end of 2019. Sorted by that column. Six member states publish only a seasonally adjusted series and are not shown.
Member stateQ2 2025, thousandsQ2 2026, thousandsChange, thousandsChange, %Q2 2026, end of 2019 = 100
European Union220,351.6221,373.0+1,021.4+0.5%105.2
Ireland2,807.02,824.5+17.5+0.6%118.9
Cyprus515.1523.7+8.5+1.7%114.1
Luxembourg520.8530.3+9.6+1.8%113.1
Spain22,628.623,108.8+480.2+2.1%112.3
Croatia1,777.81,800.1+22.3+1.3%111.7
Denmark3,239.83,271.7+31.9+1.0%108.6
Netherlands10,359.010,378.0+19.0+0.2%108.0
Italy26,773.627,165.7+392.1+1.5%107.3
Lithuania1,485.31,489.4+4.0+0.3%107.3
Slovenia1,102.01,102.9+0.8+0.1%105.1
Belgium5,122.65,135.4+12.8+0.2%104.7
Sweden5,443.75,467.3+23.6+0.4%104.7
Bulgaria3,596.53,603.3+6.9+0.2%104.5
Hungary4,805.94,835.7+29.8+0.6%103.7
Austria4,733.34,725.1-8.2-0.2%103.5
Estonia689.6690.5+0.9+0.1%103.5
Finland2,731.02,710.5-20.5-0.8%102.2
Germany45,911.045,696.0-215.0-0.5%100.7
Slovakia2,428.32,428.4+0.20.0%99.4
Latvia900.1910.2+10.2+1.1%97.6
Romania8,341.78,242.5-99.2-1.2%95.0

Where the two countries parted

In Germany the fall is concentrated in the industries that make and move goods. Manufacturing employs 176,000 fewer people than a year earlier, a fall of 2.4%, and 8.2% fewer than at the end of 2019. Trade, transport, accommodation and food services lost 116,000, and professional, scientific and administrative services 53,000.

One German industry grew by more than a few thousand. Public administration, education, health and social work added 188,000 people in work, so outside it Germany has 403,000 fewer than a year earlier, a figure the desk derived by adding the two published changes.

In Spain nearly every industry grew. Construction added 121,000 people in work, a rise of 7.7%, professional, scientific and administrative services 135,000, and manufacturing 62,000, a rise of 2.7%. Italy’s largest gain was in trade, transport, accommodation and food services, 219,000.

One industry shrank in all three. Information and communication lost 26,000 people in Spain, 24,000 in Germany and 5,000 in Italy, and 74,000 across the European Union.

Provenance: Source
Change in the number of people in work between the second quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, thousands of persons, by industry (NACE Rev. 2), seasonally and calendar adjusted. Manufacturing is part of industry, and is shown on its own line.
IndustryGermanySpainItalyEuropean Union
Agriculture, forestry and fishing-9.0+19.4-18.8-258.5
Industry, except construction-159.0+72.0+5.2-240.7
of which manufacturing-176.0+61.6+4.7-291.9
Construction-17.0+121.4+22.1+103.5
Trade, transport, accommodation and food services-116.0+48.4+218.6+462.8
Information and communication-24.0-25.6-5.1-74.0
Finance and insurance+1.0+28.3+7.8+74.8
Real estate+4.0+3.2-4.5+35.6
Professional, scientific and administrative services-53.0+134.8+95.9+221.4
Public administration, education, health and social work+188.0+82.1+34.6+543.6
Arts, recreation and other services-28.0-3.8+36.3+152.9

What this count measures

It counts people, not posts. The national accounts count every person employed, employees and the self-employed, working for a producer in the country, wherever they live. A person is counted once, however many jobs they hold.

It counts a balance, not the traffic. A rise of 480,000 is the difference between two counts a year apart, not the number of people hired or of posts created. Hires and departures both happened in between, and the source does not say how many of each.

And it counts people in work, not people looking. Unemployment is measured by a different survey, and nothing here says how many of the people who left German manufacturing are looking for work, retired or moved to another industry.

Provenance: SourceWhat this counts
  1. PEOPLE IN WORK, not jobs opened. The national accounts count every person employed, employees and the self-employed alike, on the domestic concept: everyone working for a producer in the country, wherever they live. A cross-border commuter is counted where they work.
  2. A NET CHANGE. The rise of 480,000 in Spain is the difference between two counts a year apart. It is not the number of people hired, and not the number of posts created: hires and departures both happened during the year, and only their balance is here.
  3. THE SAME SEASON, ADJUSTED. Every comparison is the second quarter of 2026 against the second quarter of 2025, on the series Eurostat adjusts for the season and for the number of working days. The end of 2019 is a second horizon, printed in its own column and never mixed with the first.

So Spain’s 480,000 does not say Spanish employers created 480,000 posts, and Germany’s 215,000 does not say 215,000 people were laid off or are unemployed: it says that in the second quarter of 2026, 480,000 more people were working in Spain than a year earlier, and 215,000 fewer in Germany.

One count, made the same way in every member state, and a reading that forgets what it counts says what the source does not.

What these figures do not say

They name no cause. Energy prices, tariffs, the car industry and immigration have all been offered to explain Germany’s year or Spain’s, and none of them is measured here.

They do not say that jobs moved from Germany to Spain. The two counts are made separately, of people working in each country, and nothing in them follows anyone across a border.

They say nothing about pay, about vacancies or about hiring, and they forecast nothing. The figures for Germany and Spain are provisional and may be revised. Czechia, Greece, France, Malta, Poland and Portugal publish only a seasonally adjusted series and are not in the table.

What this means for you

If you are looking for work in Spain

The largest gains over the year were in professional, scientific and administrative services, 135,000 more people in work, and construction, 121,000 more, a rise of 7.7%. Information and communication shrank, by 26,000. The count is of people in work, not of open posts, so check live listings for your own trade before you read a rise as an opening.

If you hire in Germany

Public administration, education and health added 188,000 people in work over the year, the only German industry to grow by more than a few thousand. If you recruit for a school, a clinic or a public body, that is where the rest of the market grew too. Manufacturing employs 176,000 fewer people; whether any of them are looking for work is not in this source.

If you work in information and communication

It is the one industry that shrank in Spain, Germany and Italy alike: by 26,000, 24,000 and 5,000 people over the year, and by 74,000 across the EU. That is a count of people working for firms in the industry, not of any occupation; a developer at a bank is counted in finance.

How this was counted

Method

  1. Two datasets from one release. Eurostat namq_10_pe, population and employment, and namq_10_a10_e, employment by industry, both national accounts, quarterly, read through Eurostat’s dissemination API on 27 September 2026 (the date is the timestamp of the downloaded files, 19:30). Eurostat last updated both on 25 September 2026. Total employment, domestic concept, thousands of persons, seasonally and calendar adjusted.
  2. PEOPLE IN WORK is total employment on the domestic concept: employees and the self-employed working for producers resident in the country, whoever they are and wherever they live. INDUSTRIES are the ten main groups of NACE Rev. 2; manufacturing is part of industry, and public administration, education, health and social work form one group.
  3. PUBLISHED LEVELS, DERIVED CHANGES. Eurostat publishes levels in thousands; every change and percentage here is arithmetic on two published levels, and the prose rounds changes to the nearest thousand: Spain 23,108.8 minus 22,628.6 is 480.2 thousand, Germany 45,696.0 minus 45,911.0 is minus 215.0 thousand. The 403,000 outside public administration, education and health is the desk’s: 215,000 plus 188,000.
  4. THE EU FIGURE IS EUROSTAT’S. The EU aggregate, 220,351.56 thousand in the second quarter of 2025 and 221,372.99 thousand a year later, covers members that are not in the table, so no country’s change is expressed as a share of it.
  5. MEMBER STATES. 21 of the 27 publish the series adjusted for season and calendar, and they are the table. Czechia, Greece, France, Malta, Poland and Portugal publish a seasonally adjusted series only; on it, over the same year, France rose by 7,000, Poland by 78,000, Portugal by 117,000, Czechia by 83,000, Malta by 15,000 and Greece by 4,000. Eurostat flags the figures for Germany, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Romania as provisional; the flags are kept, not corrected.
What the data establishes, and what it does not

What the data establishes

  • Between the second quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, the number of people in work rose by 480,000 in Spain (2.1%) and fell by 215,000 in Germany (0.5%); the EU as a whole added 1,021,000.
  • Of the 21 member states publishing the adjusted series, 17 grew and 4 fell: Germany, Romania, Finland and Austria.
  • German manufacturing employs 176,000 fewer people than a year earlier and 8.2% fewer than at the end of 2019; Spanish manufacturing employs 62,000 more.
  • Public administration, education, health and social work added 188,000 people in work in Germany; outside it Germany has 403,000 fewer, a derived figure.
  • Information and communication shrank in Spain, Germany and Italy and across the EU.

What it does not

  • Any cause. Energy prices, tariffs, the car industry and immigration have all been offered, and none of them is measured here.
  • Unemployment. People who left work may be looking for work, retired or studying; this source does not say.
  • Vacancies, hiring or posts created. The count is a net balance of people in work, not the traffic behind it.
  • That jobs moved from Germany to Spain, or any share of the EU’s rise belonging to one country.
  • Anything about pay, and any forecast; the figures for Germany and Spain are provisional.
Primary sources

Primary sources

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